


Poetry is NOT stupid Tony...

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Anniversary, Apologies, Established Relationship, Fights, Fluff and Angst, Inspired by Poetry, Love, M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-11
Updated: 2013-01-11
Packaged: 2017-11-25 02:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/633971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony tells Steve -- who loves poetry -- that he thinks poetry is stupid.  On their anniversary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Poetry is NOT stupid Tony...

“Take it back!”

Tony ducked, the pillow Steve had thrown at him knocking a vase off the end table with a crash.  Pepper was going to be pissed about that when she found out; after all, she’d been the one that picked it out.  Sighing, Tony told Jarvis to get Dummy to clean it up while he padded barefoot into the kitchen to make some coffee. 

“I’m not taking it back, it’s my opinion and I’ve got a right to express it.”  He yelled back as he got out two mugs, setting them on the counter a little more forcefully than was necessary.  He wasn’t used to Steve arguing back, to get frustrated with him.  Usually he just listened empathetically and nodded, offering comfort and a kiss, but not this time.  He wasn’t even sure how they’d started talking about poetry anymore.  “Look, I don’t see why you’re so upset about this.  I just said I don’t like poetry.”

“No, you said it was stupid, there’s a difference.”  Steve said angrily as he walked into the kitchen, refusing the mug Tony offered him.  His boyfriend never refused his morning coffee, Tony noted as he set it back down on the counter.  This was going a whole lot worse than he’d expected. 

“Well, let’s face it.  It IS stupid.”  Tony said taking a sip from his cup.  Steve went pink in the face.

“How can you think it’s stupid?”  He asked in a quiet voice.  It was almost like all the fight had left him as he looked at Tony, the anger that had been there moments before dying out under the sheer weight of Tony’s immoveable opinions.

“It’s just a big ball of mush and fancy words.  What’s there to like?”  Tony asked, reaching a hand out touch Steve who pulled away, turning to leave.  It was then that he remembered the poetry books Steve had stashed on his shelves back at his own apartment, the leather bound tomes he barely breathed around.  How could he forget that aweing look of reverence on his boyfriend’s face when he read those books, the way his whole face lit up when he read their verses?  No wonder Steve was getting upset, he was bashing one of the few things he truly loved.  “Look, I just feel like it’s better to say how you feel outright.”

“Some of us don’t have that luxury Tony.  Some of us don’t trust ourselves enough for that.”  Steve said softly, not looking back at him.  When he was finally out of view Tony slid down the wall holding his coffee, not sure whether he wanted to beat some sense into the soldier or cry.

This was not how he expected their anniversary to go.

——-

By the time he’d calmed down enough to go back to the bedroom and apologize for being a jackass, Steve was already gone. 

He hadn’t even left a note, something he ALWAYS did even if he was only popping out for a few minutes.  Tony looked down at the messy bed, the empty sheets, feeling his chest start to burn with the void that only Steve could put there.  He’d really blown it this time.

He considered calling, but figuring Steve would just ignore it, Tony called Pepper instead.  “Hey, I need you to get over to Stark Tower pronto.  I really messed things up with Steve, but I think I know how I can fix it.”

——-

Steve wasn’t sure why he came back when Pepper asked him to.

There was something in her voice that promised it would be alright, that there wasn’t going to be another fight waiting for him when he got there.  For the last few weeks, that’s all there’d been: the shouting, the whining, the just plain bitching Tony was doing almost nonstop, and for the most part Steve had let Tony rail against him without comment.  He was Captain America.  He could take some angry words being misdirected at him if that was what it took for Tony to be able to vent his frustrations about the rest of the world without turning to alcohol.  But his sudden attack on poetry had been the last straw.

After finding himself awake in another time, a world that have moved on without him, the old poetry books he used to read back before the war were the things that kept him grounded.  Even after all this time, they still moved him to happiness or tears, they still held onto who they were.  And if they could do that, maybe he could too, maybe he could be the same person he was back before the serum and the ice. 

Right away when he opened the door to the bedroom he could tell something was off.  He’d only been home for a few days, alone in his apartment except for Pepper’s visit that morning begging him to go back to see Tony.  He definitely remembered the bedroom having more furniture in it – well, ANY furniture for that matter.  Tony stood awkwardly in the middle of the nearly room holding a rose, his smile tentative like he thought Steve was likely to bolt at any minute. 

Honestly, when he’d seen him, Steve had wanted nothing more than to turn and walk away.

A rose couldn’t fix what’d been broken, not this time.

“Tony, what are you doing?”  Steve sighed, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.  “This is ridiculous…”

“Just let me try to apologize, okay?”  Tony asked, waiting for his boyfriend’s okay.  After a long minute Steve looked up at him and nodded, his posture still stiff and resistant.  At least he was staying, Tony thought with relief. “I… wanted to tell you how badly it felt with you left.  How badly your absence hurt me.”

“Tony…”

“Please, Steve, just listen:

 _I have scarcely left you_  
When you go in me, crystalline,  
Or trembling,  
Or uneasy, wounded by me  
Or overwhelmed with love, as  
when your eyes   
Close upon the gift of life  
That without cease I give you.

He knew what Tony had done for him after the first few lines, knew the significance and the weight of these words.  Steve looked up from the floor as if in shock, his eyes filling with tears as Tony stepped towards him, the rose forgotten in the middle of the floor as they reached for one another.  His fingers pressing gently into the small of his back the way he knew Steve loved, Tony left a trail of kisses up his neck to his ear, his voice breathy as he continued:

 _My love,_  
We have found each other  
Thirsty and we have   
Drunk up all the water and the  
Blood,   
We found each other  
Hungry   
And we bit each other  
As fire bites,  
Leaving wounds in us. 

Tony guided him to the floor, his lips ghosting over Steve’s as he shoved the coat off his shoulders, Steve’s impatient fingers fumbling with the buttons of Tony’s shirt even as he was being divested of his own clothes.  Once his shirt was open, Tony took Steve’s hand, pressing it over the arc reactor gently.  Steve’s breathing stilled as Tony looked at him, his eyes full of the words Steve would never have been brave enough to say out loud.

 _But wait for me,_  
Keep for me your sweetness.  
I will give you too   
A rose.


End file.
